Today is the PERFECT time for goal setting for the year if you didn’t at the end of 2017.

Set some goals that will be meaningful to your business. Here are some examples:

Post on your social media platforms 2+ times each week (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, post in a group on LinkedIn, etc.). Some require more (Twitter), some will require less (YouTube), and most will benefit from at least two postings each week.

Network! Make 5 new contacts a month.

Customer referrals – make contact with 5 “old” contacts a month – those you haven’t talked with in a long time.

Take one hour each week to brainstorm new ideas for your business. You don’t have to do anything about it right away. Just let the idea of creativity be a part of your planned workday. The important ideas will resurface and they will get done.

One of my favorites: Choose a priority list for the day. Pick 3 to 5 items that MUST get done today! Write them down and cross them off as you accomplish them. Face it, many of us have very messy work days. We do not get the luxury of methodically working on one project to completion and then start another.

Choose one frog every day. Do you remember the book: Eat That Frog! This is a book by Bryan Tracy. The idea in it is to do the least desirable activity that is also very important, first. This way you can feel the success and momentum of getting that task out of the way. After you have “eaten the frog”, you can do anything!

Post one picture or comment each week highlighting your product on strategic places around the internet. This is great for the credibility of your business and website – answer questions on Q&A sites, directories, industry-specific sites, etc.

Search your company name on the internet to see what comes up. Is there some damage control needed or great reviews to highlight on your own online assets? This is the best way to manage your online reputation. Keep informed on where your name and company name are being used.

Oh, the list goes on and on. Try not to over commit yourself. It can be overwhelming if there are too many items on the list. Goal setting shouldn’t be overwhelming. Focus on 3 to 5, set measurable goals and start with those!

Getting a website is part of taking care of your basic internet presence (#BIPPlan) for your company, whether it is an online company or not. The website is where your customers actually enter a new trust level with your company and often take action to contact you, either through a form submit, newsletter sign-up, but more likely (and hopefully) a phone call.

There is a very wide range of websites – from very basic (one page) to thousands of pages website with all the bells and whistles. Can I just make a recommendation here right now? If you are getting a new website, please get a WordPress website. One of the main reasons is that you do not have to be stuck with one person who knows how to add content, updates and make changes to your website. WordPress is the content management system (CMS) that holds the frame and content of your website. There are many people who know how to use WordPress and often, you can make small changes and add content pages and posts with just a couple hours training. For basic stuff, it is easy to use. That’s our zone here right? Basic Internet Presence.

Back to the list…Your basic internet presence website should have the following (in no particular order):

1. Basic Company Information

This tells the website user who you are, what you do, why you are good at it and how they find you. Along with this “About Us” information, you would serve yourself really well by adding an obvious ‘call to action’. Help the website user know exactly what they are supposed to do next with your website. There are a million other topics you can add, but this is a basic content cornerstone.

2. Content Plan & Strategy

Create a plan to continue to add fresh, interesting, and relevant content to your website. Your pages and other content should be in an easily navigable manner so the user can get from one page to another without being lost. This is for the basic internet presence. If you want to get fancier, you can create sales funnels or specific paths to help you website user get to your call to action and find out more information that will help them make a buying decision.

3. Contact Form

These form submits help a website fit into what is expected for the human website user and for the bot or spider that is crawling your site to send back information to the search engines, reporting on how they perceive your website (with respect to many aspects found in the search algorithm. Having a form submit adds to credibility on your basic website.

4. Responsive Website Design

The responsive design simply means that the website changes to adjust for the screen size it is being served on without looking distorted and organizing itself for the best possible user experience. This will also cover any mobile design needs – you will not need a separate website for a mobile or smart phone.

5. Hosting Platform

“Hosting! What’s that?”, you say. Don’t leave me, I see your eyes getting glossy – this is simple. The website host is where your website originates when someone lands on your web address. When your website is found or entered into the browser or found through a link, the host serves the website information to the user’s computer. You want a host that has fast computers, does not break down all the time, and is secure. A plus would be they also take care of backing up your website regularly, don’t have too many or bad websites on your server and many other services that go beyond the “basic internet presence” picture being painted here.

6. Images, Video and other Visual Stimulation

Images and video make the website come alive. These can be your original, local images and videos, product images, office images, people/staff, and much more. These need to be copyright free or you do need to own a license for the image use if it is not your own original. There are many websites that sell images and it is fairly simple to hire our own photographer.

7. Solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Plan

This is another topic that sometimes is tricky to understand. Search Engine Optimization is simply keeping search engines in mind as you create your website, make changes and add content to your website. Some things to keep in mind are how the layout of your content affects the way users and bots navigate, what you name pages, what are the top keywords for your business, and much more.

8. Social Media Links

Social Media links to share your website articles or just to click through so the website user can see your other internet “billboards”. You don’t have to spend your life posting on all the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ (the major social media platforms). And, you do not need an account on all of these. We need to look at your industry and see what suites your style, business, target customers and your services/products. With most companies, social media is simply another way to get people to look at your website for a buying decision to be made.

This basic website does not need to break the bank before you even get started. The point of the “basic” part, is to help you and your business get off the ground with your internet presence, #BIPPlan, and allow you to focus on finding new business. Do not let the thought of a new website overwhelm you. You can have a very simple one and also add to it later.

Why do I need a website for my business?

Yes! If you have a business, you should have a website. A website is your current day business card, tri-fold marketing brochure and billboard all in one and, best of all, found in your future client’s house and at their convenience. There are exponentially more options for a user to get your business information from a website versus other marketing means. Your website address is one of the basic questions any directory or organization will ask you for when adding information about your company. A clean website also improves your business image to future banks or loan officers if you are considering asking for a business loan.

What Kind of Website Do I Need?

WordPress offers one of the easiest ways to get your company into a website. You may have heard of “WordPress”. This is an open source Content Management Systems (CMS). A CMS allows a website owner to log-in online and make edits to their own website. Some CMS are easier than others. We recommend you use a CMS that you will be able to make changes to yourself if you want, versus getting stuck with a CMS that you don’t even know how to navigate within, let alone find where you want to add new information. In addition, rather than choosing a CMS that is proprietary (Website Tonight on GoDaddy for example) to one company, WordPress is available free to anyone at WordPress.org. We typically use a professional generated version of WordPress to make it a bit more customized to your business.

Who Will Find My Website In a Search?

Another reason a website is a necessity is that the search engines would like to find you for people searching for your type of business in your area. Search engines (like Google, Bing, Yahoo and many others) like a website to have certain elements so they can determine what it is you do, for what type of customer and where. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the act of helping your website become more available to show up high searches made on the internet. While it is true that search engines want to make money selling advertising, they do also want to provide searchers with relevant information on their Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Why Can’t I Just Use Facebook For My Website?

Websites can provide a lot of information about your company that you cannot say to someone in one short conversation. When you meet someone new that you think might benefit from your business, you can easily communicate your website to them so they can find out more information. If someone comes across the fact that you have a business on a social media channel (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.), a website offers more information when they may want to review prior to contacting you directly. It is great to have social media influence (having followers and engaging with them), however, if you only have a Facebook page, you will be excluding those potential customers that do not use Facebook.

This is your time to show off!

Some clients have mentioned what a relief and joy it was to be able to tell their potential customers, just go to my website – it has all that information. There is a motivating factor when you have an updated and informational website users can look at. This is your time to show off! People want to feel confident in who they are hiring and a current website helps convey this immediately. Your website should have these 8 items at a minimum.

If you have any more questions about why you should have a website for your business, we will be happy to discuss further. Yes! You need a website for your business, unless you are a spy – then you shouldn’t have a website because you might be found!

What is a community?

When we are using the term community in business conversations, this can mean a lot of different things. A community is generally meaning a unified body of individuals in a geographic area or people with common interests. As more and more social media platforms become popular, more of us are finding communities online. I belong to a lot of Facebook Groups, Meetup Groups, and other platforms.

From a business perspective, a community can mean your clients or potential customers. The community can be represented in fans, members, followers, e-mail address on your database, followers on your blog or business online group, people in your town viewing your storefront, reading your article in the local newspaper and more.

As you can see in this chart, Facebook is still dominating as the most popular social networks in the United States. This chart is taken from data in November of 2016. It is reported that teenagers think Facebook is less cool than Instagram and Snapchat. I can attest to this with my teenager – she has Facebook but communicates daily through Snapchat and Instagram.

Based on share of visits. Dated November 2016. United States; Experian; November 2016; Browser-based (excluding in-app) visits across PC and mobile combined.

Facebook

Facebook is a great way for businesses to reach their community through one of their types of pages:

Local business or place

Company organization or institution

Brand or product

Artist, Bank or Public Figure

Entertainment

Cause or Community

It is fairly important to strategize which type of page you should use when starting a new one. As a business with a storefront or actual local address, the Local Business or Place should be claimed. This is an easy way to help yourself out with SEO. Facebook specifically recommends a “Page” be created if you have a business, brand or product. This will allow you to engage with people on Facebook and gives you tools to manage and track engagement. Engagement refers to the various ways your community interacts with your Page.

If you have already started using your personal Facebook page to promote your business, you can continue this way if you don’t mind using your personal page for your private content intermingled with your business content. Please note, that Facebook states in their help section that it is against the Facebook Terms to use your personal account to represent something other than yourself, specifically citing “Your Business”. We suggest making your business stand out as a serious business and create and use your own Business Page. SEO side note, Google’s search algorithm does take into account what your social media profile looks like. This means Google may serve your business website higher in SERP (Search Engine Results Page) if you have a high number of followers on social media accounts. It is possible to convert your personal Facebook account to a business page.

It is noteworthy that as of August 1st, 2017, Facebook reports they have over 2.01 billion monthly active users. This represents a 17% increase from 2016. Similar to Google, Facebook is just too big to ignore when you have a business. Find more Facebook stats here. Facebook statistics highlights:

2.01 billion monthly users

1.15 billion mobile daily active users

1.32 billion people login into their Facebook account daily

10 million websites displaying “Like” or “Share” is viewed daily, on average

42% of marketers’ report that Facebook is critical or important to their business

One last note about Facebook for the small business owner, advertising on Facebook is relatively easy and can be very narrowly targeted, for the type of target audience, you are seeking.

YouTube

The next highest social media community/channel is YouTube. YouTube can be used for small business by uploading videos. The videos range from personally created with your phone to professionally filmed and edited commercials. YouTube has tons of information for “Do-It-Yourself” people. The next time you think of, “how do I…”, go to YouTube.com and search your topic. One important SEO note is that YouTube uses a separate search engine than Google does so it is important to optimize your videos on YouTube just like you optimize your content on your website for SEO.

Twitter

Twitter has a much smaller user number than Facebook and YouTube and I hear rumors every now and then that Twitter is going away. Ha! If that were the case, I am pretty sure Donald Trump would fund it, just so he can keep his voice being heard. In my experience, Twitter is used more as a Business – to – Business tool. I also like to post Twitter mentions of events I am at to give those presenters some free publicity and acknowledgment that what they are doing has been heard, enjoyed and is useful.

Reddit

Reddit is another platform that doesn’t compare in volume of users with Facebook or YouTube and most likely doesn’t have the brand awareness Twitter has, nevertheless, it has almost as many users as Twitter. Reddit is a social platform centered around users discussing social news, web content and more. Users can submit their own links of content in direct links and test posts. Basically, this can be used for a source on what is new and popular on the Internet. A Reddit user can vote on content and it will rise to the top of community pages. Individual communities on Reddit are called “subreddits”.

Personally, I use Facebook Groups for interacting in various professional groups (as a resource for knowledge or ideas). I use Twitter to get incoming information from industry leaders I respect and like to get their musings. I go to YouTube for instructional videos. I try to use Snapchat to stay hip with my daughter and I set up an Instagram page for my very photogenic and funny dog because I love to take videos and pictures of her and don’t want to bore my friends on Facebook to tears with all that content!